(Matthew 17:20)
“It was because you do not have enough faith,” answered Jesus. “I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it will go. You could do anything!”
As a church school we see the teaching of R.E. as an important and integral part of our school life.
We have adopted the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education syllabus for Church of England schools as the basis for our R.E. teaching for the following reasons:
1. It provides a good balance between the teaching of Christianity and other faiths.
(However as a church school the major emphasise of our R.E. is Christian based.)
2. It provides a good basis of information allowing staff to teach all areas with sensitivity and knowledge.
3. The scheme ensures the teaching of RE is progressive and allows staff to focus in on aims and objectives.
4. We believe it gives children the skills, knowledge and experience to make informed choices in their own exploration of life and faith.
5. The syllabus allows children to become questful learners to discover more about themselves, others, the world and God.
Aims
1. To learn about (explicit) and from (implicit) religion.
2. To teach the Christian faith in a positive way.
3. To encourage others to explore the Christian faith.
4. To explain the meaning of other faiths and to promote respect for them.
5. To encourage the children to recognise and value the faith of others.
6. To promote spiritual, moral, social, cultural and mental development.
7. To consider questions of the meaning and purpose of life, develop children’s sense of identity and belonging and thus prepare them for life as citizens in a plural society.
Christian Values
As a church school our Christian Values are at the centre of everything we do. They help us to live out our Christian Vision of ‘life in all its fullness’. Each half term, we focus on a different Christian Value.
This half term our Christian Value is:
Care
This is done explicitly through our Collective Worship time, but also throughout our curriculum. Children have regular opportunities to reflect on each value and to develop an understanding of the Value in action.
Each Friday, in our Celebration Worship, we acknowledge children who have demonstrated these values. We believe these values are empowering our pupils to develop their spirituality and guiding them in personal development as effective learners and good citizens.
School Values
Our school values of Respect, Challenge, Self-believe and Excellence are displayed all around our school and helps us to think of our purpose here at Christ Church. It helps us to live out the New Commandment that Jesus gave us:
Collective Worship
In line with the requirements of the Education Reform Act, our children take part in daily collective worship. Monday, Tuesday and Friday collective worship is carried out in assemblies where children can reflect together. Wednesday and Thursday collective worship is carried out in class. Each class have the opportunity to work on our talk promises and lead our focus each week. Our reflection time includes acts of Christian worship such as prayers and hymns. Our Collective Worship Council share a weekly prayer in the celebration assemblies.
Rev. Andy
Rev Andy is part of our school community through our church. He attends assemblies and special days of worship such as Christingle, Patricroft Passion and our Leavers Service.
Philippians 4:13
"I can do all things through him who gives me strength."
Multi-Faith
At Christ Church we learn about other faiths. The children very much enjoy visits to local places of worship such as Eccles Mosque. Where possible we feel it is important to have visits from members of different faith communities. Previous visits have involved visitors from the Muslim faith, Jewish faith and Buddhist faith. We aim to ensure that all of our children at Christ Church understand, tolerate and respect faith in our society. We believe it nurtures and reinforces the Christ-centered Christian values: compassion, respect, care, love and forgiveness. At Christ church, we love, learn and discover to make the right choices, as God's children.